CONCORD — Starting next fall, many fourth-grade students in Mt. Diablo district schools should be tooting on flutes and banging on drums, after trustees voted to restore the band program.

Fourth- and fifth-grade instrumental music was eliminated six years ago because budget cuts, but the district restored the program for fifth-graders this year. At Monday’s board meeting, Northgate High and Sequoia Middle School band parent Tamara Helfer said she spoke on behalf of music supporters throughout the district who value the skills and knowledge that students gain through band and orchestra programs in elementary, middle and high school. The restoration of fifth-grade instructional music, she said, moved many parents when their kids performed with middle and high school bands earlier this year.

“We’re all in this together,” Helfer said. “We all kind of look out for our (elementary) schools.”

Several trustees, agreed, speaking before the unanimous vote about how impressed they were with music performances they attended by high school bands throughout the district.

“The main thing is to keep the momentum going on instrumental music,” said board President Cheryl Hansen.

El Monte Elementary Principal Christina Boman said Tuesday that the return of fourth-grade music will allow third-graders who learn to play “song flutes” to choose their own instruments the following year and continue their music education seamlessly into middle school.

In other business, the board on Monday unanimously appointed Meadow Homes Elementary Principal Mary Louise Newling as assistant superintendent for elementary education, former Woodside Elementary Principal Jennifer Sachs as executive director of instructional support, and former Ygnacio Valley High Administrator Efa Huckaby as principal for the school in Concord.

The board also held a public hearing on its 2015-16 budget, although the document had not yet been finalized. Nance Juner, director of budget and fiscal services, said she hoped to have the final budget available online at least one week before the board adopts it June 22.

The board also discussed a planned Middle College program at Diablo Valley College that is expected to serve 30 students next spring and eventually grow to 60 students, allowing teens to obtain college credit while in high school. Hansen said she and Contra Costa Community College District board members are also interested in providing dual enrollment opportunities that could allow high school educators to teach courses on the college campus.

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